Wow...What A Book!!!

I don’t think that I have words to describe this book. I can honestly say I have never read a book like this before. Ever. In my entire life. I can not even begin to tell you what kind of book this is. I think to accurately describe it I could say it had every mystical thing in it other than vampires and werewolves. There was a huge amount of unexplainable mysterious stuff going on in this book. The mist was the first oddity…the bees came much later. The mind of this author is quite an astonishing thing. I have no clue how he put all of this together into the literally spell binding piece of literature that I have been reading all week long. I feel a bit empty now that I have finished it. I will attempt to briefly highlight the story.

First of all there was the birth of Meredia. And since that was not normal at all it sort of set the scene for everything else that happened. Meredia was a huge character in the book but there were so many other huge characters. Really. Tons of them. After reading this book I am not even sure of the era. There was so much magic and mystery that I did not even care but I think it was a long long time ago in a far away place...almost positive. It was a story of families and love and nightmares and magic…this ever pervading unexplainable magic. The magic was everywhere. And…to be truthful…not all of the magic was good…it was frightening and surprising. It is also a story of families and love and a horrible evil. And I think it is a story of one woman’s strength and beauty and courage among so many things that could send the best of us under the covers.

Now that I have totally not explained this book…I can honestly say I loved it. It sort of made me queasy in the beginning but I learned to love this story. I felt caught up in it and spun around by it and totally taken over by it.

The author is amazing, the book was stunning, and I can’t believe I am finished with it. I wasn’t quite ready for it to end.

So…what do I think you should do? Hmmm…if you love an intense story…you should not pass up this book. If you love a quirky magical story…you should definitely read this book.

This book is my own personally purchased Kindled copy.

New November Fiction...

In addition to becoming aware of amazing books that are published and about to be published from bloggers and newsletters and the NYT Book Review,  I also adore reading Bookmarks magazine.  Their subtitle proclaims that it is the magazine for people who have not yet read everything.  I love that.  The November/December issue is one of my favorites.  It is the Best Books Of 2010.  They have a great website and newsletter, too.  While reading this month's issue the following books caught my eye.

According to a blurb by Kensington Publishing...This Glittering World is about loss and atonement...one of my favorite topics.  Life In Miniature is about the bond between mothers and daughters...another favorite topic.  Prayers And Lies is about the often shocking events that thrust us into adulthood.  I just read that you can go to Kensingtonbooks.com/Emmons for requests for early galleys.  Sounds good to me!!!

I Am Knitting...Yes I Am!!!

Here is my plan.  I love yarn.  I love sheep.  I love buying yarn that is hand loomed and hand dyed and comes from sheep that are happy and content.  But I have no clue what to do with the yarn.  I can knit and I can purl but I am much happier just plain knitting.  I have recently learned from my sister Paula that the knit stitch that I so love and that I do so well is called a garter stitch.  So...I have been casting on 32 stitches to lovely wooden knitting needles.  And I have been knitting them into 12 inch squares...I think.  I don't really measure them...once I liked the way the very first one looked...I just line up the rest of them so that they are sort of close in size and that is one block. I think I am getting so good at this just plain knitting that I don't even have to really look at what I am doing.  I just knit away and I can tell when I am close to the right size and then I take it off the needles...believe me that is a whole other learning experience...thank you YouTube...I just stretch it a little until it is the right size...works for me...

Now...my sister thinks I am capable of much more when it comes to knitting but I do not want to press my luck.  I have watched her use all sorts of knitting paraphernalia.  Stitch holders and markers and even knitting needles that are flexible...not happening for me.  I have a huge bag full of these squares and pretty soon I am going to line them all up and see what I have.  I have lovely colors of squares and yarn from all over.  It is soft and plain and there are no dropped stitches yet.  I love my kind of knitting.  My sister Paula just called to tell me that there are tons of YouTube videos on how to sew your squares together...so there must be lots of other simple knitters out there enjoying my kind of pattern free knitting.

I dare you to find a dropped stitch or a mistake of any kind in my best work...Oh...the photo at the top of my post...that is from a yarn store that I love called NobleKnits.  I just bought that pattern because I think I can knit that.  It is totally a garter stitch and I am very proficient with a garter stitch.  I know I can do it. 

A Tale Of Three Or More Werewolves...

You could possibly be thinking at this point that there is not much new that could be done with a werewolf story. That thought would be wrong. Nightshade was such an intense story and one where the characters and their traits were fully and capably developed. This book was so engaging. I loved Calla and her role as the alpha wolf of her pack. I love Ren…his dynamic and charismatic place within the pack as the attractive and desirable leader of what will be the new pack with Calla at his side. I loved Shay…the way his character worked his way into the wolf pack at school and the way his persistence led Calla to open her eyes and her heart to what was happening within her pack. What I loved most about this book was the seamless and effortless way that Calla and Ren and the other wolves could shift between human and wolf form…no tearing of clothes or running around half naked here…the change between wolf and human just happened and it happened quickly and easily. I loved the way the author wove the lives of the werewolves at school with the lives of the humans. It was different and very effective. This werewolf tale effectively involved Calla and human Shay in a relationship based on finding out the answers to some really old werewolf traditions. They worked together and the outcome was exciting and quite dangerous.






I loved Nightshade. It was a tremendous tale…and of course left me panting for Book Two…coming soon.